Nowhere Warm
by RedLipsMarie
Summary: If Dr. Miranda Bailey hadn't "gone soft" and did her duty in keeping her intern and a patient apart, would Alex and Izzie have remained together? What effect would this have on Denny Duquette's fate? I/A/D Triangle, other couples. Goes back to Season 2.


PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTES IF THEY'RE THERE. Thank you.

A/N: I will not be revealing the triumphing couple any time soon. Just know that there is going to be a long, drawn out dance of a love triangle between Isobel Stevens, Alex Karev, and Denny Duquette. Don't worry, fans of either couple will receive plenty of fan service from both camps. On a personal note, I stopped watching GA after that disaster of a Season 4. I do not acknowledge the existence of Season 4 and beyond that, actually. So heads up that only the ORIGINAL characters (Seasons 1, 2, and 3) are in this fic. Any other questions? Feel free to ask.

Begins from Season 2, Episode 19 "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" It picks up from the scene where Izzie is about to blow off Alex for her first date with Denny. I'm still keeping true to everything that happened before this scene, so you might wanna re-watch the episode to jog your memory.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Grey's Anatomy and its' characters belong to Shonda Rhimes.

**XXX**

**Chapter I: Cut It**

He watched her for a minute, but only for a minute, as she readied herself in front of the dingy mirror. She retrieved a tube of lipstick from her purse and applied another coat of pink to her already perfect pout. She brushed away the blonde lock that fell into her eyes, tucking it away behind her ear. The smile teeming with excitement that graced her face could undoubtedly make a man do stupid things.

Alex chuckled to himself, assured that the beautiful smile was for him. "You ready?"

She looked to his reflection in the mirror, her smile suddenly fading. "What?"

"Aren't we, uh… I thought we had plans for the night?" She kept a neutral expression, but Alex could see the surprise flash in her eyes, hesitating to think of a response. _What the hell?_

She turned away from the mirror, looking directly at him with a light tone of voice, but he could already tell where her expression was leading to. "Oh… I forgot, I'm sorry. Rain check?"

"Stevens."

Every intern in the locker room froze in terror when the icy voice of the Nazi cut through the warm air. Cristina slammed her unkempt locker shut, standing stick straight and facing her resident. George shoved the remaining half of his muffin into his mouth, his cheeks puffed in an ill attempt to hide the food. Meredith didn't move a muscle from her seat on the bench, a tight lipped flinch on her face. "Are any of you suck ups named Stevens? No, I don't think so, so get your asses out of here."

Without hesitation, the interns scrambled through the tight spaces of the lockers and benches, careful not to make physical contact with their petite boss as they hurried their way to the door. Even the interns who weren't working directly under the Nazi had fled the room. Only Alex and Izzie remained. Miranda Bailey looked expectantly at Alex, placing a hand on her hip in irritation. "You got something to say, Karev?" Izzie gave Alex an alarmed glance, but when he opened his mouth to say something, he was effectively cut off. "Get. Out." Alex gave one last look to Izzie as he exited the locker room.

"D-Dr. Bailey?" Izzie stuttered.

The older woman looked Izzie up and down, taking note of her intern's dolled up appearance. Hands still held firmly in place on her hips, Bailey cut straight to the chase. "I hear you've been spending quite a bit of time on the fourth floor of this hospital, in **specific**, a patient's room on the fourth floor. So let's not pretend you don't know what this is about. Where are you going?"

"Um… I-" Izzie couldn't lie fast enough.

"Uh huh, thought so." Miranda moved from her stance and straddled the bench, arms crossed over her chest. Even from her lowered position, the resident's fixed glare still managed to make Izzie feel small. "Stevens, do you like what you do?"

"Dr. Bailey-"

"It's a simple yes or no Stevens, answer the damn question."

"Yes. I like what I do."

"And would you say you** love **what you do? Do you **love** being a doctor?"

"After working so hard to get where I am, of course I-"

"Yes or no, Stevens?"

The blonde bit her lower lip before she voiced her genuine words, "Yes. I love being a doctor."

Miranda paused, staring into Izzie's nervous brown eyes. "Then do yourself a favor and keep that in mind. Remind yourself of why you're here every chance you get, every time you have a doubt. You busted your ass to get here, you love your career, you love saving lives. You love what you do, and a good looking man isn't worth jeopardizing that."

Izzie swallowed audibly as she looked away, followed by a shaky laugh forced from her throat. "I don't know… what you're…"

"You're off the Denny Duquette case." Izzie snapped her gaze back to her boss, stunned in silence. Miranda didn't blink, raising an eyebrow as if she was anticipating Izzie to challenge her. "If you're gonna play dumb with me, then I'm gonna act like I don't think you'll be upset by my decision."

"I'm-" Izzie finally found her voice, "I'm not upset, but I don't get it. Denny and I are friends, so what? You don't get to know your patients, even a little? Especially the regulars?"

"I don't suppose you dress up for all your patients?" Miranda fired back. "You're too close. **Way** too close. This 'friendship' ends here. There's a difference between getting to know a patient for the sake of finding a solution to their sickness, and getting saucy with them."

"But we're not-"

"Oh, I know you're not. I'd have had your head on a platter if I had any suspicions that things were already heating up between you and Mr. Duquette. But I'm gonna cut it here before it can grow into a 'what if', because you're a **doctor**, Izzie Stevens, and there's no such thing as a 'what if' with patients."

Another moment of silence descended upon the women, the drip of the water from the sink faucet the only source of sound. "So I'm off the case?" Izzie deadpanned.

"You're off the case."

"But… in all due respect, Dr. Bailey, that would be Dr. Burke's call."

"Oh, you're gonna play that card, huh?" Miranda scoffed. "Would you rather me discreetly remove you from this case, or give my reasoning to Dr. Burke and have you embarrassed and scrutinized for your lack of professionalism? You'll probably never get assigned to a case by Dr. Burke again. But hey, it's your choice."

Izzie didn't dare argue any further. In truth, she knew Bailey was right, and that her boss was doing this for her own good despite the cold way she chose to go about it. That didn't make it any easier to accept. The blonde dropped her shoulders in defeat, looking to the floor to signal Bailey that she had nothing more to say. "Now," Bailey gave one last stab to kill any remaining thought to Denny Duquette, "**Where** are you going?"

Izzie closed her eyes briefly and sighed, grabbing her purse from the sink and slinging it over her shoulder. "I'm going on a date with Alex."

Miranda nodded firmly, not exactly thrilled that two of her interns were dating, but it seemed everyone on the hospital staff were shacking up anyhow. She'd rather prod and check in with a co-worker romance than a highly inappropriate doctor-patient relationship. "Good girl." The Nazi spoke her peace, rising from the bench and marching back to the doorway. "You have a good night, Dr. Stevens. I'll be seeing you tomorrow."

Izzie watched her superior leave, the door slamming behind her and echoing against the lockers. She looked at the tote bag at the end of the bench, disheartened that her chef's hand wouldn't be shown off to Denny tonight, nor any other night if Dr. Bailey could help it. Izzie did not want it to go to waste, though. She really did want Denny to have it, even if she couldn't get the gratification of putting that smile on his face when he received it. Checking herself in the mirror one last time, she closed up her locker and picked up the tote bag, hoping that the delivery boy she had in mind was still working his shift.

As luck would have it, he was right in sight when she opened the door to make her exit. The stark white hallway connected the filing counter to the rooms in between, and past that to the intern locker room at the end where she stood. His back was facing her as he leaned forward over the counter, looking anything but busy.

"Tyler, could you please do me a favor and take this to Denny Duquette, the heart transplant patient on the fourth floor?" Izzie came up behind him and placed the tote bag on the counter in front of the nurse dressed in green scrubs, interrupting his downtime that he abided with reading a magazine.

"Well, don't you look nice." The nurse looked to the bag, raising a brow with a suggestive smirk. "Dirty pictures and other tools of seduction? Can I see before the man gets a gander?"

Izzie couldn't help but giggle. "No, sorry to disappoint you… It's apple juice and some homemade stuff for him to chow on."

Tyler closed his magazine and leaned against the counter, taking the bag with the smirk never wavering. "Oh, and you won't be joining him?" Izzie hesitated, looking back to the door that led to the locker room, with Bailey nowhere in sight. She could sneak in and see Denny if she really wanted to, but she shook her head. Bailey had definitely made her point: Denny was southern sweetness, charming, and handsome, the kind of guy you dizzy yourself about. But he wasn't a lifelong thing… no man was a guarantee for the long run. Her **career** was a relationship she could always count on. She'd always have her career. She'd always do remarkable things, she'd always be looked up to. And no man could outweigh that importance.

"No, I won't be" she smiled back towards the nurse. "Don't even bother to tell him it's from me. Just give it to him and tell him to enjoy. Thanks, Tyler."

**XXX**

Alex sat at the bar, deliberately separating himself from his fellow interns. Yeah, they had their moments, but he was in a shit mood right now.

He didn't want to blame it on Izzie. If he blamed it on her, that means he cares. And he doesn't. Chicks come and go, one leaves only to be replaced by another one. So he learned not to care.

As he tossed back the remaining liquid in his third bottle of beer, he sucked his teeth and sighed in annoyance.

Honestly, who was he kidding.

Izzie wasn't just 'some girl' as much as he'd like to categorize her that way. Somehow, and he had no idea how, she had gotten him to see past the tall, to see past the blonde, even past the big boobs. Somehow that irritating, cheery attitude of hers and gotten under his skin, like the slice of a scalpel. Somehow, she managed to make him feel guilty about screwing around with someone else, when less than a year ago he didn't give a rat's ass about who got hurt as long as his needs were being met. There was always an abundance of half-brained females who complied. That was yet another thing that served to piss him off: when he got to seeing past the tall, the blonde, and the big boobs, she was definitely NOT half-brained. She was spirited and mindful, caring and intelligent beyond what most people tagged her to be upon first meeting her. He tagged her the exact same way; then she opened her mouth. And somewhere between proving him wrong about her and giving him a second chance after boning Olivia, he forgot how to not care. He cared. **Cares**. He wasn't used to this. It was almost intolerable.

_I swear, the next time I see her, that's it. I'm done. She was about to blow me off, anyway. I don't give a shit, and I'll make that clear to her. That doe-eyed, flaky, underwear-clad—_

"Hey," a voice cut in. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Alex looked to his right, surprised at his not having noticed Izzie slide into the chair next to him, her hair a messy tumble of curls over her shoulders as she tilted her head to look at him. He almost laughed, facing away from her and toying with the empty bottle. "I guess you can. I got stood up tonight, so why not?" He didn't miss the burned look on her face. But still, she tried.

"I don't think it counts as being 'stood up.' I'm right here."

"Yeah, because whatever you had planned an hour ago didn't work out. So you go to the backup plan, right?" He suddenly turned his whole body and faced her, closing in on the small proximity between them. He was only a hand's space away, an act to incite intimidation, but he found it difficult not to enjoy the smell of her perfume or the sexy way she bit her lower lip nervously. He found his words again, "I'm **no one's **back up plan, Izzie. I am **not** the second option."

Izzie didn't take her eyes from his, and didn't falter in her response. "I know you're not. I'm sorry."

Alex stared at her, expecting more words. _That's it? _He waited another moment, then shrugged. "So that's all? You're sorry?"

"What else do you want me to say?" She said softly.

He looked to the empty beer bottle, then back to her. "Where were you going?"

She looked away for a minute, and his suspicions about Denny were momentarily affirmed. He felt his jealousy about to flare before she responded, "I was about to make a mistake." As quickly as his green-eyed monster reared, it simmered down to nothing. He looked at her, feigning disinterest. But she pressed on, "I was about to make a mistake, and then I decided against it. So..." She placed her hand, assuring and honest, on his arm. "So I'm here, Alex."

Alex looked to her fair-skinned hand, a hand that looked too delicate to belong to a surgeon. Then he looked into her eyes, and couldn't hold his teasing half-smile smile when he saw the nervousness had never left her face. _I guess she cares too. Too bad she's not good at hiding it._

"What about that drink?" He chuckled, moving closer to her.

_So much for being done._

**XXX**

A/N: Review, pretty please! That'll keep me going!


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